(Updated March 16 with Ben Winchester’s slideshow. Click on the image below to open his slideshow in PDF format (the file is large, be patient if you have a slow connection). Email your comments directly to Ben at benw@umn.edu
Do you think the population just stays the same here in Swift County? Think again. While the total number of people stays generally the same, enough people are moving IN to the county to make up for the loss of the 18-25 year old youth! This “brain gain” is a different take on how our rural population is changing. What are we doing about it? What can we do about it?
Join us at 6:00pm, Monday, March 15 at Shooter’s Bar and Grill, Appleton, to explore these questions. Free spaghetti dinner will be served for those who RSVP to 866-407-4906 or horizons@umn.edu. All people interested in making Appleton a vibrant place to live, work, and play are welcome!
Our guest speaker, Ben Winchester, is a Research Fellow with the University of MN, Extension Center for Community Vitality.
The population in rural Minnesota has changed significantly over the past 40 years. This is commonly referred to as the rural rebound. In fact, between 1990 and 1999 over 2.2 million more Americans moved from a metro county to a non-metro county, than visa-versa. While retirement and recreational counties accounted for the bulk of this population growth in Minnesota, the story of Minnesota’s rural population change is interesting and nuanced – especially when we consider that in Minnesota over 40% of all people move to a new home in any five year span. Some core structures that have built our rural communities are not the same ones maintaining them today. Overall, the implications of these changes are positive ones for all of our small towns and open country places.
